It's amazing how much noise there is at night in a local village! After heading to bed at around 10 last night, we could hear people noise, dogs, cows, birds, bugs.. but at least no traffic! A local rooster decided to start crowing at 3am, which set them all off.. then again at about 4:50.. then the call to prayer (which was beautiful, luckily) was at 5. We managed to fall asleep again after that and woke up at around 6. It was nice and cool, which was a good change, and when I hopped up to have a shower, we had an amaaazing view of the mountain. Hopefully it's that clear for us on Wednesday morning!
After a quick and very cold shower, the three of us relaxed on the balcony before having breakfast at 7:15. Our host Nina had been up early preparing a wonderful cooked breakfast for us - mee goreng (fried noodles), fried eggs, chicken balls, rice and chicken congee, and steamed buns with bean paste inside. So much food! It was all fantastic though.
After breakfast we went for a walk around the village, having a look at the 'mini Kinabalu' rock formation that was across from our host house, and checking out a few quirky houses along the way, dodging cows as we went (mum would love it here, so many cute cows). We saw a house that had bats in a cage, a weird green bird, rabbits and chickens. Then we came back and packed up our bags and got picked up by the minibus at about 9:30.
After a short, steep drive up the hill and a bit of a drive, we stopped in a little town for half an hour. It was here that we needed to stock up on a few litres of water and adequate snacks for the hike. I got some banana chips, a chocolate bar and some nuts to add to my pile of biltong (courtesy of mum) and the pumpkin/sunflower seeds I got in Kota Kinabalu. We get a packed lunch tomorrow and breakfast is provided both mornings of the hike so I think the food situation is under control. I've got some spare rice noodles just in case the dinner is awful. Then it was back in the minibus and off to Mount Kinabalu Reserve HQ.
We dropped off our bags at the park, and then headed over to the Kundasang War Memorial. This was set up to commemorate the soldiers who died in the Sandakan Death Marches. We were shown a video about the marches and then had time to wander through the gardens - an Australian, English and Bornean garden. It was pouring with rain though so after a brief explore, we headed back to the buses.
Next we stopped for lunch at a place just outside of Mount Kinabalu HQ. I tried the beef rendang, a beef curry-style dish with coconut and lemongrass and rice. We then headed up the road to HQ and checked into our rooms and were told we'd been upgraded! We had little 'houses' to share between 3-4 of us. Amanda, Lauren and I were sharing one, which was perfect. Amanda's double bed (she'd paid the 'single supplement' so she didn't have to share) was even bigger than a king size! We also had a shared door through to next door, where 4 of the others were staying. We spent the first part of the afternoon organising what we were going to take up the mountain, and considerably downsizing based on the fact that we had to carry 3 litres of water, which took up a lot of space (and weight!).
Amanda and Lauren were sharing a porter so I put a clean top, socks and beanie in that bag and then just my first aid kit, toothbrush, raincoat and snack bags in my little bag along with the water. I condensed all my purchased snacks into zip lock bags which made them much easier to pack.
After that we played a few card games for a few hours with the girls next door, and then got ready for dinner. The weather had changed and it was pouring with rain and cold - I even had to put on pants and a long sleeve top! By the time we met out the front for dinner, it had stopped raining but was really really foggy. We walked down to dinner, which was a buffet. Not the best choices, but had some rice with chicken and lamb, and some salad-y type stuff, then fruit for dessert. It was too western-focused! There was even spaghetti! After dinner we had a safety briefing from Jeffry about altitude sickness and general 'what to bring' up the mountain, before going up to HQ and looking at the map and having a more detailed chat about the climb.
After that it was back to the rooms for some last minute stuff-shuffling and off to bed! Feeling excited for tomorrow!
Kinabalu National Park HQ
Monday, April 03, 2017
Kundasang, Sabah, Malaysia
Other Entries
-
1Kota Kinabalu
Apr 012 days priorKota Kinabalu, Malaysiaphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 0 -
2Katasan village
Apr 021 day priorTuaran, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
3Kinabalu National Park HQ
Apr 03Kundasang, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
4Mt Kinabalu
Apr 041 day laterKundasang, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
5Mt Kinabalu to Poring Hot Springs
Apr 052 days laterRanau, Malaysiaphoto_camera2videocam 0comment 0 -
6Poring Hot Springs
Apr 063 days laterRanau, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 1 -
7Kinabatangan river
Apr 074 days laterBilit, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
8Gomantang caves and Sandakan
Apr 085 days laterSandakan, Malaysiaphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 3 -
9Turtle islands marine park
Apr 096 days laterTurtle Islands National Park, Malaysiaphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 0 -
10Sepilok Rehabilitation Centre
Apr 107 days laterSepilok, Malaysiaphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 0 -
11Back to Kota Kinabalu
Apr 118 days laterKota Kinabalu, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
12Kota Kinabalu
Apr 129 days laterKota Kinabalu, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
13Mari Mari Cultural Village
Apr 1310 days laterKota Kinabalu, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
14Last day in KK
Apr 1411 days laterKota Kinabalu, Malaysiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0 -
15Home!
Apr 1512 days laterMentone, Australiaphoto_camera0videocam 0comment 0
2025-02-06